Parliament's Permanent Committee on Standards in Public Life has decided not to grant the Standards Commissioner the authority to independently publish decisions on ethics complaints, agreeing instead that this right should remain with the parties involved in each case.

On Monday, the permanent committee agreed that the Standards Commissioner should not be given the power to publish decisions on ethics complaints on his own initiative.

Instead, the committee concluded that the current framework should remain in place, allowing the individuals directly involved in a complaint to decide whether to make the Commissioner's findings public.

Under the arrangement endorsed by the committee, when the Commissioner determines that a complaint does not warrant a formal investigation, the report is sent to both the complainant and the person against whom the complaint was filed.

From that point onwards, either party may choose to publish the report, in full or in part.

The reasoning behind the approach is that a person who has been cleared of wrongdoing should retain the freedom to disclose that outcome publicly if they wish.

The decision means that the Commissioner will not be granted independent powers to publish dismissal decisions, as had been requested earlier this year.

Standards Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi had written to Parliament in January asking for the authority to publish such decisions himself, arguing that the current secrecy rules can allow political media outlets to misrepresent his conclusions.

His request followed a decision in December when he declined to investigate a complaint regarding statements made by Opposition Leader Alex Borg about generic medicines.

The Commissioner had concluded there were no grounds to proceed because the code of ethics for MPs does not explicitly include an obligation of honesty.

Ultimately, the committee decided that the existing system, where publication is left to the parties involved, should remain unchanged.